Social Media

European Social Network Bahu Raises $1M in Series A Round

European social network Bahu has secured $1 million in its first round of funding, led by Lightspeed-Gemini Internet Lab. Started by students and targeting a student demographic, Bahu plans on expanding further across Europe to France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Germany, Poland and the Baltic countries, in addition to South America and Asia.

Bahu appears to already have a good-sized user base in France, and in an effort to grow this existing user base, the company has appointed Ouriel Ohoyon, the General Manager of LGiLab, to its board of directors. With his experience in marketing, it's apparent that reaching out to new users is the next step for Bahu.

In terms of Bahu's actual network, the focus is on the promotion of talents across the board, encompassing pretty much all types of art. Profile pages are akin to the MySpace breed of self-promotion; an "iPod" skinned mp3 player hosts your playlists, and separate modules on your profile host your friends, fans, videos, clubs and comments. Additional sections for each user profile displays photos, talents, and more.

There doesn't seem to be any differentiating features for Bahu, but France does appear to be a new hot spot for those social networks looking for global expansion. Facebook and Disney have both shown additional interest in the French demographic. The French authorities, however, have made some major steps towards regulating various aspects of online media sharing, so this is something that growing social networks will need to keep in mind.

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